Social Attitudes in the Early 21st Century

This book is to present a review and new research findings to upgrade the understanding of social attitudes. Social attitudes in the contemporary era are valuable and necessary for a better understanding using the analytical-functionalist framework. The attitudes are a person’s association of oneself with social objects. The association can be the maintenance of acceptance, confidence, favor, justification, or trust. These objects are socially relevant or visible, that is, among people or society. This understanding means explaining, predicting, and evaluating social attitudes in a general person in the current world concerning their causes or predictors. The concern is to clarify what influence and predict social attitudes and why the influences and predictions occur and as such evaluate the goodness of social attitudes, notably their promotion or early intervention. Differentiating the influences and predictions for China and the United States is crucial for the current bipolar world.

Chau-kiu Cheung, Ph.D., at the City University of Hong Kong, China, has recently published research results concerning civility, social inclusion, resilience, character education, moral development, peer influence, and class mobility. His current research addresses issues of protest, thriving, early child development, organizational culture, and drug and vocational rehabilitation. Over the years, he has endeavored to scrutinize and advance knowledge concerning sociomoral development, social capital, and life quality. He actively engages in applied research on various social services for youth, elders, people with disabilities, education, policing, correctional services, and other community concerns.